Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Raises Stock Holdings in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its holdings in Laboratory Co. of America Holdings (NYSE:LH) by 29.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,607 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,900 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Laboratory Co. of America were worth $2,891,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Private Trust Co. NA raised its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 3.2% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,342 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 8,025 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,840,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 1.7% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,055 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $683,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 354 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its stake in Laboratory Co. of America by 28.2% during the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 232 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LH has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on Laboratory Co. of America from $293.00 to $286.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. HSBC upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $260.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Laboratory Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.75.

Insider Transactions at Laboratory Co. of America

In other news, EVP Glenn A. Eisenberg sold 11,711 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.43, for a total value of $2,815,675.73. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 31,289 shares in the company, valued at $7,522,814.27. This represents a 27.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Amy B. Summy sold 226 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.40, for a total value of $56,590.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 4,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,137,817.60. The trade was a 4.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,058 shares of company stock valued at $4,845,585 in the last three months. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Laboratory Co. of America Stock Performance

Shares of LH stock opened at $251.84 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $240.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $232.34. Laboratory Co. of America Holdings has a 12-month low of $191.97 and a 12-month high of $258.59.

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $3.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.05. Laboratory Co. of America had a return on equity of 15.29% and a net margin of 5.73%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Laboratory Co. of America Holdings will post 16.01 EPS for the current year.

Laboratory Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. Laboratory Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.65%.

Laboratory Co. of America Company Profile

Labcorp Holdings, Inc engages in providing medical testing services. The company was founded on April 16, 2024 and is headquartered in Burlington, NC.